Mildred Alltucker, 94

Mildred (Black) Alltucker, 94, a descendant of the original settlers of the Snake River and Bruneau Valleys in Idaho, died peacefully at the home of her daughter in Overbrook, Kan., on Sept. 2, 2003.

Memorial services will be held in Bruneau, in the spring.

She was born to Joe and Jennie Black of Bruneau, and raised in Bruneau.

She attended the Albion State Normal School and began her adult life as a teacher in one-room school houses in Middle District, Little Lost River, and Wendell.

In 1941 she married Robert Alltucker, a highway patrolman from Elk Grove, and moved to California.

During the war years, while Bob served with the Navy in the Pacific, she returned to Idaho with her daughter, Carol, and assisted in the war effort by working the graveyard shift at the Union Pacific roundhouse at Glenns Ferry. After the war the family returned to California where they resided for nearly 61 years.

Robert died in 1976.

She was a member of the Bethany Presbyterian Church and active in Eastern Star and Job's Daughters. She was also a substitute teacher for the Sacramento School District.

"Millie was a gifted poet and kept wonderful journals describing her life in California and the memories of her early life with the family cattle ranches in the Bruneau Valley and their summer range at the head of Battle Creek in the Owyhee hills," her family said. "Millie was a very special person and an inspiration to all who knew her. She will always be remembered by the many lives she touched."

She is survived by: her daughter, Christine Brandenberger of Overbrook, Kan., and her brother, Paul Black, of Shoofly, Idaho; six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews, cousins, neighbors and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert, and daughters Carol Ann and Crystal, her sister, Bessie Keith of Sacramento, and her brother, Albert Black of Mountain Home.

Remembrances may be made to the Bruneau Cemetery Fund, c/o David Jones, Box 7521 Bruneau, Idaho 83604.